Financial Fraud: Six Chinese Charged With Conspiring To Traffic Contraband Cigarettes

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<h2>Six Individuals Charged With Conspiring To Traffic More Than &dollar;30 Million Of Contraband Cigarettes<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Geoffrey S&period; Berman&comma; the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York&comma; Philip R&period; Bartlett&comma; Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Office of the U&period;S&period; Postal Inspection Service &lpar;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;USPIS”&rpar;&comma; Angel M&period; Melendez&comma; the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of U&period;S&period; Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations &lpar;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;HSI”&rpar;&comma; Matthew Modafferi&comma; Special Agent in Charge&comma; U&period;S&period; Postal Service&comma; Office of Inspector General&comma; Northeast Area Field Office &lpar;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;USPS-OIG”&rpar;&comma; and Joseph Fucito&comma; New York City Sheriff&comma; announced today the unsealing of an Indictment in Manhattan federal court charging SHAO JUN GUO&comma; JIAN JIANG FENG&comma; YUE JUAN CHEN&comma; ZHURONG GAO&comma; SHUI YING LIN&comma; and WO KIT CHENG with conspiring to traffic contraband cigarettes and trafficking contraband cigarettes&period; The defendants were arrested yesterday and will be presented before U&period;S&period; Magistrate Judge Robert W&period; Lehrburger today&period; The case is assigned to U&period;S&period; District Judge Jesse M&period; Furman&period; The defendants will be arraigned before Judge Furman on January 31&comma; 2019&comma; at 11&colon;00 a&period;m&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As alleged in the Indictment&comma; SHAO JUN GUO&comma; JIAN JIANG FENG&comma; YUE JUAN CHEN&comma; ZHURONG GAO&comma; SHUI YING LIN&comma; and WO KIT CHENG conspired to traffic more than &dollar;30 million of contraband cigarettes to avoid approximately &dollar;30 million in taxes&period; The case is assigned to United States District Judge Jesse M&period; Furman&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>U&period;S&period; Attorney Geoffrey S&period; Berman said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;As alleged&comma; the defendants trafficked in massive quantities of contraband cigarettes&comma; defrauding city&comma; state&comma; and federal governments of millions of dollars in tax revenue&period; That is lost tax revenue that would be used to fund research into cancer and other smoking-related illnesses&comma; and to fund cessation and anti-smoking programs&period; These defendants’ alleged scheme to make millions&comma; cheat taxing authorities&comma; and deny funds for healthcare programs has gone up in smoke&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>USPIS Inspector-in-Charge Philip R&period; Bartlett said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These defendants thought they could get away with their scheme to distribute contraband cigarettes&comma; avoiding regulations put in place to protect the public&comma; businesses and the City from fraud&period; Their illegal profit went up in smoke&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Angel M&period; Melendez said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;For the past six years these defendants smuggled untaxed cigarettes into the United States causing lost revenue to the U&period;S&period; economy to the tune of &dollar;30 million dollars in unpaid taxes&period; Whether it be drugs&comma; counterfeit goods or untaxed cigarettes&comma; smuggling items into the United States is a crime that we at HSI take very seriously as we work every day to secure our borders&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>USPS-OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Modafferi said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In certain instances&comma; the Special Agents of the U&period;S&period; Postal Service&comma; Office of Inspector General will work with their law enforcement partners to stop those who use the U&period;S&period; Mail to facilitate their crimes&period; We would like to thank the U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office&comma; USPIS&comma; HSI&comma; and New York City Sheriff’s Department for their collaborative efforts in developing this investigation&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sheriff Joseph Fucito said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The alleged criminal conduct of the defendants deprives all New Yorkers of significant tax revenues&period; These lost revenues impact public safety&comma; education&comma; health&comma; housing&comma; and social services&period; The New York City DOF Sheriff’s Department will continue to investigate and pursue criminal conduct to ensure these invaluable services are sustained&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the allegations in the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court&lbrack;1&rsqb;&colon; From June 2013 through January 2019&comma; the defendants engaged in a scheme to smuggle and traffic &dollar;30 million of untaxed cigarettes in the United States to avoid at least &dollar;30 million in taxes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr>&NewLine;<p>SHAO JUN GUO&comma; 42&comma; of Brooklyn&comma; New York&comma; JIAN JIANG FENG of New York&comma; New York&comma; YUE JUAN CHEN&comma; 41&comma; of Bayside&comma; New York&comma; ZHURONG GAO&comma; 66&comma; of New York&comma; New York&comma; SHUI YING LIN&comma; 43&comma; of Brooklyn&comma; New York&comma; and WO KIT CHENG&comma; 44&comma; of Brooklyn&comma; New York&comma; have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic contraband cigarettes&comma; which carries a maximum prison term of five years&semi; and one count of trafficking contraband cigarettes&comma; which carries a maximum prison term of five years&period; The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only&comma; as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr&period; Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the USPIS&comma; HSI&comma; and the New York City Sheriff’s Department&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit&period; Assistant United States Attorneys Ryan B&period; Finkel&comma; Elizabeth Espinosa&comma; and Andrew Chan are in charge of the prosecution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations&comma; and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty&period;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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